For media producers and consumers around the world, the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week were marked by long stretches of inactivity (no smoke) followed by brief moments of minimalist action (smoke). What sounds deadly boring was, in fact, ideal material for the Twitter/Facebook masses. The lengthy waiting for the cardinals in Rome to reach a decision allowed amateur and professional Vaticanologists to speculate on things they know little or nothing about, and the hour between the white smoke and the drawing of the curtains could not have been bettered for dramatic impact. This was more thrilling than most action films. Indeed, one of the many surprises of the past week has been the astonishing ability of those ancient rites to reveal themselves as ideal material for sharing, as this Instagram page from NBC News shows.